Psalms 14:4 - Meaning and Application

In these verses, the psalmist tries to do two things. He wants to warn sinners about the evil and danger of their path, even though they feel secure in it. He also wants to comfort God’s people. He shows sinners three things they often refuse to see: their wickedness, their foolishness, and their danger, even while they think they are wise, good, and safe.

First, he shows their wickedness. He describes it in four ways. They are workers of evil, meaning they plan it, do it, and take pleasure in it as if it were their trade. They also devour God’s people as greedily as they eat bread. They have such a deep hatred for the righteous because they really hate God, whose people they are. Persecutors often find cruelty as natural and satisfying as food, and they can harm God’s people with no thought of conscience before or after.

They also do not call on the Lord. Those who care nothing for God’s people and God’s poor care nothing for God himself. The reason people fall into serious sin is often that they do not seek God’s grace in prayer. What good can be expected from those who live without prayer? They also mock the poor man’s hope. They make fun of those who trust in God as their refuge, just as David’s enemies did (Psalms 11:1). It is a great evil to not only reject religion yourself, but also try to turn others away from it. Some people mock the duties of faith as if they were dull and useless, and mock its blessings as if they could not truly make a person safe and happy. But it is dangerous to make fun of people who trust in God.

Next, he shows their foolishness. They have no knowledge. That is clear, because if they truly knew God, understood themselves, and thought clearly like human beings, they would not be so cruel and abusive to God’s people.

Then he shows their danger (Psalms 14:5). There, in the very place where they were eating up God’s people, fear came on them. Their consciences condemned them for what they had done, and secret terrors filled them. They seemed to drink in the blood of the saints, but it turned bitter inside them. Many proud and cruel persecutors have become like Pashhur, a priest who was made a terror to himself and others. Those who will not fear God may end up fearing even the rustling of a leaf.

David then comforts God’s people with what they already have. They have God’s presence, because he is with the generation of the righteous (Psalms 14:5). They also have his protection, because the Lord is their refuge (Psalms 14:6). This is their safety, and it is also the terror of their enemies. People may mock them for trusting God, but they cannot laugh them out of that trust. In the final judgment, it will only increase the fear and shame of sinners to see God openly own the righteous, whom they hated and ridiculed.

He also comforts them with what they hope for, the salvation of Israel (Psalms 14:7). When David was driven out by Absalom and his rebels, he comforted himself with the hope that God would restore him in due time, to the joy of all his loyal subjects. But this hope reaches beyond that event. David had just lamented how corrupted mankind had become, and in that dark view he longs for the salvation the Redeemer would bring. That Redeemer would come to Zion and turn ungodliness away from Jacob (Romans 11:26).

The world is full of evil, and the heart longs for the Messiah to come and change it. There is corruption everywhere, so we long for times of renewal. Those will be joyful times, just as these are sorrowful ones. Then God will turn again the captivity of his people, because the Redeemer will rise in triumph, lead captivity captive, and bring lasting joy to Jacob. The victory of Zion’s King will be the joy of Zion’s children. The second coming of Christ, when he will finally end the power of sin and Satan, will complete this salvation. That is the hope, and will be the joy, of every true Israelite. With that assurance, we should comfort ourselves and one another when we sing this psalm, thinking both of sinners’ present sin and saints’ present suffering.